The temperature may have been hovering around 25 degrees, but the athletes on Penn State's intramural ski team didn't mind -- they had ice water running through their veins.

Being calm and collected, the women's team cruised to an Allegheny Collegiate Ski Conference championship over the weekend by beating out eight other teams at Tussey Mountain.

The men's team finished as runner-up to Navy but still advanced to regionals due to their strong regular season showing.

"We have great harmony," Penn State coach Jim Polinchock said. "It's an individual sport, but they're really close."

Polinchock identified the squad's teamwork as one of the main characteristics that has helped the ski team earn conference titles each of the six years he's coached. This year marked the first season of Polinchock's tenure that the men went home without adding new hardware to the trophy case.

"This whole season had a lot of uncertainties and a lot of ups and downs," team member Nick Fox said. "But I still think we're going to come out on top [at regionals]."

Fox, arguably the best skier in the conference, helped pace the Penn State men with a strong time Saturday to secure the runner-up finish.

Fox tore his ACL last season prior to regionals -- but he placed in the top 20 at nationals during his sophomore year.

While Fox was disappointed with this weekend's outcome, Navy's Mike Piazza was ecstatic.

"I'm feeling great," Piazza said.

Piazza also conceded that the Navy squad never thought they'd be on top of the standings.

"I knew we'd do well," added Navy ski president Derek Elliott. "But I never suspected we'd finish number one."

The Penn State men actually found themselves up by less than a second after the first run in the slalom event, but they were unable to maintain the lead as the undaunted Navy team trudged back to capture the two-second advantage.

From then on, Penn State faced an uphill battle that it just couldn't overcome.

For the women, winning Saturday's slalom event proved to be extremely vital in the title race. The Penn State women won in a convincing fashion Saturday and had some breathing room for Sunday's giant slalom, in which they took second behind Bucknell.

"That was huge," club vice president Nicole Stockey said. "If we didn't win Saturday, we might not have won [the championship]."

Stockey recorded a time of 1:36.96 seconds in the slalom win for Penn State.

Both Penn State's men's and women's teams hope that the momentum carries them past the Mid-Atlantic Regional championship at Blue Mountain Ski Area later this week and on toward securing a national championship berth.